Libby's Motive - Maybe Patrick Fitzgerald Can Help Matt Yglesias

Matt Yglesias and Brendan Nyhan are having an interesting back and forth as to why Libby lied and what it means for his commutation.  Let me volunteer Special Counsel Fitzgerald's help on this plaintive plea from Matt Yglesias:

Bottom-line, I think it's rock solid that Bush abused his power, and until someone can offer a plausible account of what kind of non-criminal conduct Libby is helping to cover-up, I'm not going to be too upset if people assume that what's being covered-up was, in fact, a crime.

Here is Special Counsel Fitzgerald from a 2006 filing (p. 26) in which he tackled the question of motive (but do keep in mind - jurors like motive as part of the narrative but it is not a legal requirement for conviction in a perjury/obstruction trial):

Defendant’s request for discovery to show an absence of motive to lie or conceal his conduct overlooks the fact that even the materials defendant appended to his motion show that in early October 2003 (when defendant first gave his story) there would be great embarrassment to the administration if it became publicly known that defendant had participated in disseminating information about Ms. Wilson’s CIA employment, and defendant would have had every reason to assume he would be fired if his true actions became known.

But if June 2006 seems too long ago, here is Jeralyn Merritt's summary of the prosecution close from the Libby trial (the speaker was Peter Zeidenberg):

Mr. Libby and motive to lie.  He agrees with Wells that people have to have a motive to lie.

Libby knew there was a criminal investigation. He knew the FBI wanted to talk to him about it. Zeidenberg tells them to look at Libby's non-disclosure agreements. He knows that he can't even be negligent about classified information. Zeidenberg plays the video of Scott McClellan.

There's no question Libby has reason to think that at a minimum, he's going to be fired. He went to the VP and said he wanted to be cleared like Karl Rove had been cleared.

He cooked up the story about reporters being the source of his knowledge so that it would make his conduct appear innocuous.

This is a case about lying, not conspiracy or scapegoats. There's no White House or NBC conspiracy. He's here because of his own choices and decisions. He decided to lie to the FB and grand jury.

And here we go from Fitzgerald's "cloud over what the Vice President did" close:

But the thing about it is, when you look back at something that happened, history always looks inevitable. At the time he [Libby] was sitting there with a motive to lie. He had a problem. There was an investigation, got security clearances, going to lose his job, they’re talking about firing people and he planted his feet and told the Vice President, I did not leak to Novak.  I did not leak classified information.

I don't know if that helps, but it looks like the official government speculation.

The gist is that Libby feared loss of security clearances, firing, and embarrassment to the Administration.  As a bonus, let me speculate that Libby was specifically worried that Dick Coronary might be dumped from the 2004 ticket if his role in the Plame debacle was sufficiently awkward.

And do keep in mind - the specific points on which Libby were convicted were pretty tangential to whether he discussed Ms. Plame with Cheney and whether he or Cheney were aware of her classified status.  Consequently there are plenty of modified Libby stories that would clear the points on which he was convicted yet still minimize Cheney's role, if he is ever asked to re-tell his tale. 

Frankly, I await the day when Congress or the courts prepare an impeachment/indictment of Cheney on the word of a convicted perjurer who testified to memory problems (although the commutation serves to increase his possible credibility - would he even get a hearing if his testimony would lead to a reduced sentence?).  But until that day comes, I have Comedy Central.

Comments

[Sara]

CIA leak: Now it can be told

This is mostly stuff we have hashed and rehashed, but is good as a reminder. Has anyone read the book?

[clarice]

Interesting. As far as I can tell BTW the fact that Armitage was the leaker was the best kept secret in D.C. in decades.
Compare and contrast with the fact of the referral which took all of about 15 minutes before Andrea had it on the wires.

[cathyf]

So is Eckenrode a suspect for leaking the CIA referral? Who are the possible suspects for that?

[Sara]

Clarice, the fact that Armitage as the leaker was such a well kept secret gives credibility in an odd sort of way to Novak's claim of how open the CIA was to confirming Val worked there. Novak is obviously a man who knows how to keep something secret when tasked to do so.

[kaz]

The details on the enrichment scheme are very sketchy, but...

In theory, if you had a reaction that goes to quantitative completion [very, very little if any uranium left over] and the final product has bonds that are selectively excited by the energy pumped in with a laser, you could speed up a diffusion process similar to the one the US used in WWII. We used uranium hexafluoride and did the enrichment by allowing the material to vaporize and collected the "fast" molecules that were slightly lower in weight.

Using something other than fluorine and targetting it with fine tuned energy could possibly make the "fast" molecules even faster and easier to collect. It's old, proven science with a techno jumpstart that the TVA guys could only dream of.

That's all blind guess since there are so few details, but it's semi-educated blind guess.

[Lurker of sorts]

Cathyf

here is something I posted way back when

Sometimes I wonder if the reason there are no notes from Eckenrodes call to Russert is simply due to the fact he was calling as a source for Russert rather than as an investigative interview.

Then someone tried to reverse the lens at a later date.

Posted by: SlimGuy | March 08, 2007 at 12:12 PM

goes right along with your speculation , yes it does and it still sounds like a plan

[clarice]

cathyf-I think someone in the CIA 's General Counsel's office or the DoJ are more likely. Since Mitchell's sources seem to be greatest at CIA and DoS that's my first choice. Also, DoJ was reluctant to proceed so again, I think CIA.

[anduril]

Rick, that business of restricting access looks purely routine. I would presume that Eckenrode would have been reporting directly to Mueller, rather than going through the head of the Washington office. Given the nature of the SC appointment--functional equivalent of the AG--it makes sense to restrict access at that high a level.

The stipulation is pretty interesting. One might well suspect that the notes contained direct quotes from Russert, maybe just partial quotes but suggestive ones, that emphasized how sketchy his recollection was. What interests me in particular is that the interview was done well before Fitz came on board and certainly doesn't appear to be slanted against Libby--as summarized, Eckenrode's account of the interview hardly appears to be the stuff of a perjury indictment. Russert leaves open every possible avenue to say his recollection is imperfect, in marked contrast to his trial testimony. At this point you'd have to wonder if this investigation had any future at all.

But then Fitz came on board. Waas's account, no doubt sourced by E., emphasizes how impressed E was with Fitz's creative approach to the case--reading between the lines it appears Fitz proposed to E a way of transforming what E thought was a sow's ear into a silk purse. The FD-302 might have been a bit of a problem, but it couldn't be disappeared because it would have been logged in and an electronic copy preserved. But the notes were another matter, especially if they contained really damaging quotes or impressions--damaging to the creative case Fitz had in mind. Fitz clearly found a way to firm up Russert's recollection for trial--which smacks of coaching. If he was willing to lean on a witness, as many here have speculated, how about dealing with inconvenient notes? It's very interesting.

[clarice]

It would be interesting to know when it went missing..Before the Russert Deposition, for example..

[cathyf]

Clarice -- has Libby lost any chance to argue on appeal that Russert's testimony shouldn't have been allowed, because they didn't argue it back when they were first informed that the notes could not be found?

[Rick Ballard]

Anduril,

Mason was out of the loop before Fitz was crowned. Mason took over from the guy that let Ashcroft make an ass of himself by labeling Hatfill a "person of interest" in the anthrax investigation. I think he got out of the way when Russert's name surfaced in the Libby interview. Not out of any nefarious motive but because, as head of the DC FBI office, he probably had some contact with Russert concerning other matters. If true, he did precisely the right thing.

The most interesting period in DC is between Nov. 24 (the second Russert interview) and Dec 31 - the Fitz coronation. I wonder if anyone asked for the notes backing up the 302 during that period.

[red]

Fubar issued a tremendous challenge with this bullet point...

It becomes public knowledge that Novak got the main leak from Armitage but also that he took from Rove confirmation of the Plame story

We all know that Fubar is a first rate legal mind, so please Fubar, tell me why in your scenario Armitage would not be prosecuted? -- The Bush administration might have looked more effective for really jamming one of their own (heh).

Then also please tell me what language in the IIPA dictates prosecution for CONFIRMING a leaked identity?

[clarice]

I do not recall precisely whether they raised that objection. My recollection is that they demanded the opportunity to question Eckenrode and then dropped calling him when a storm interfered with his appearance. If they did not raise the objection at the time or no objection they did raise could fairly be said to cover this issue, there is no chance to raise it on appeal.

[Lurker of sorts]

Trying to congeal what all have said here about the FBI Mr. E.

I tend to agree with Cathyf about it being more likely that he was a Russert source since it fits so well but there are some reasons to go with Rick's issue of it being an interview of Russert and later Mr. E. bergered (look I made a new verb!) his notes in his socks on the way out.

The only real hope to figure out all this mess is if the civil case the Wilson's are pushing goes forward and somebody puts on the stand the trio of Mr. E , Fritz (who I misspell on purpose because the whole sham was on the fritz) and the big Russet potato head.

There's a whole lot of record here and many here are putting the pieces together that clearly show the official picture as posed by the actual testimony at the Libby trial has more holes than Las Vegas ladies of the street.

[Birdseye]

Even as a non-lawyer I was surprised about the inaction over Ekenrode's part and each time I raised the question, someone, the same person would counter that no attorney worth his salt will call a witness if the attorney does not know what the answer will be. So why all this interest now?

[Rocco]

I'm sorry for posting this again...but I have a gut feeling here.

While searching for info on EPIC, I found a webpage by Traprock Peace Center with a statement by EPIC about the demise of endthewar.org

"The National Network to End the War Against Iraq grew out of a series of National Organizers Conferences on Iraq that EPIC initiated with the support of other national organizations. At the Second National Organizers Conference in Denver, Colorado, conference participants came together to form the network in February 2001. When the network was first formed, the Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC) contributed seed funding and the EndTheWar domain name. Over 350 grassroots peace and justice groups in 48 states - all working to support peace and improve humanitarian conditions in Iraq - had joined the Network by the summer of 2003, at which time the name was changed to the National Grassroots Peace Network.

Being a bit curious about this Second National Organizing Conference, I found it on Google. This conference gathered more than 20 of the most radical activist organizations in the country and their agenda was to end the sanctions on Iraq.

The minutes are an interesting read where they discuss such things as violent/non violent protests. One member proposed linking uranium to sanctions as a way of bringing more groups to the table. The International Socialist Organization proposed a national action. Conyers and Powell are referred to also in the minutes.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but these 3 groups jumped out at me.

1-The American Friends Service Committee-Ray McGovern speaks often at their affairs.

2-Il Manifesto- An Italian Communist Newspaper from Rome, Italy.

3-A mention of linking uranium to the war. Now their discussing depleted uranium as opposed to yellowcake but this was a conference of ideas.

Now compare the participant groups in Denver to the 2002 EPIC Forum sponsors

[Lurker of sorts]

Don't you love how the press, Keith Olbermann types, keep telling us that the government is trying to SCARE us into believing Islamic terrorists want to kill us, BUTT he never seems to hear the SCARE TACTICS when Al Gore says Florida will be submerged in 20 feet of water.

And whenever pat Robertson or Jerry fallwell predicted a natural disaster; the press said they were crazy, now Al Gore predicts even bigger and more ridiculous disasters and we are supposed to listen to him.

Posted by: Poppy(Patton) | July 08, 2007 at 12:22 PM

Wow I live where I am at 24 feet , guess this means I will have an island with great access to fishing off my front porch.

[kim]

Surely he can be brought back in under the Mitchell part of the appeal; Russert's credibility is the key.
==========================

[Lurker of sorts]

I believe I read that ultimately it was McNulty who rolled that investigation up and found no wrong doing.

Comey

Posted by: windansea | July 08, 2007 at 01:49 PM

McNutly, Comey and Fritz the NEW Band of Brothers all created by Schumer in the lab.

[kim]

Don't forget Mueller and McCarthy.
====================

[Pofarmer]

9) Cooper asked about Plame. Libby had just heard about Wilson's wife being involved in sending Wilson for the first time from Russert. Either Cheney or Martin had told him in June that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, and a couple of CIA briefers had mentioned that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, but nobody had said anything about her being involved in sending him, and so it was in one ear out the other. Until Russert supplied the far more important (if true) piece of info that this wasn't just some small-world coincidence that the wife worked there, but that she had actually been involved in the decision to send him.

Exactly what I think happened. Wish I could have put it together so succinctly. How else do you explain Libby's testimony matching Coopers notes, but Coopers testimony not matching his own notes?

The one obstructing was Cooper, not Libby.

[glasater]

Sara--I believe the Novak book will officially be out this Tuesay.

[RichatUF]

test...typepad acting the fool

[Lurker of sorts]

Has anyone ever questioned the fact that Joe Wilson has been married to at least two spooks?

What's next does he dump her and get into a serious partnership with Scary Larry?

[Lurker of sorts]

Sara said

I couldn't find the date of the picture, but following my link back thru various other links I ended up in Dec. 2005 to an article by Jeff Gannon

Why am I looking at Conyers at the end of the table with his head leaning on his arm with an expression on his face that seems to say "and this is the bunch of fruitcakes I have to work with"

[SlimGuy]

RichatUF said

Conyer's weather-ballooning impeachment

Even the dem lefty sites trying their best to get this accross are falling on their face by their own admission, read the poll history here that they a still bravely defending with pizza boxes they throw at all opposition. 

[RichatUF]

Rocco-

IIRC the depleted uranium issue was a bug-a-boo that got put back on the front burner after Desert Fox. I remember that William Arkin and Greenpeace were working overtime to mainline stories about depleted uranium shells and how they were "poisoning the children" and the campaign was pretty sucessful. This was also concurrent with UN efforts to mainline the sanctions have killed 500k children.

The important thing to remember with discussion about the sanctions (especially within the UN complex of NGO's) was never about lifting the sanctions, it was always about raising the caps of exports under the Office of the Iraqi Program. It may be interesting to comb through those lists to find if any of them had contacts with Samir Vincent, Shakir al-Khafaji, or Tongsun Park [Oil-for-Food scoundrels] or other evidence of Iraqi bribes [see if any of the Iraqi assets working in the US that have been arrested maybe donated to them or spoke at some of their events]. Aside from that angle, I'm not sure that your going to develop much further.

I've been know to be wrong-happy hunting

RichatUF

[RichatUF]

SlimGuy-

Wow! So the guy that founded "afterdowningsteet" [notice another scandal with suspect-"sexed up"-documents] is going around to well known polling organizations and paying for [and from the write up it seems like they are writing the questions] polls regarding Bush and impeachment. Then they are netrooting the results to the MSM. The MSM reports the executive summary, press release, crayon drawing as a legitmate story-

RichatUF

[SlimGuy]

f de-funding the war was such a popular idea then why did the idea sink like a rock when Murtha became the face? I remember back some youtube clip where some congressman was accosted by one of the nutroots, and he said that if they would shut up they might be able to get something done.

So the democrats made a lot of noise about defunding the war, made Murtha the face, and when it came time to whip votes - Pres. Bush got what he wanted with the war funding bill and the democrats got their minimum wage increase. And the democrats call Bush "dumb"

RichatUF

Posted by: RichatUF | July 08, 2007 at 05:24 PM

That was Obey, sounds like Oberman but looks different.

[RichatUF]

SlimGuy-

Thanks. I went to look it up and the Capitol Hill copy has been deleted but this message appeared in the discription:

A military mom confronts Rep. David Obey (D-Wisc.)about military funding outside his office. Video courtesy of afterdowningstreet.org

RichatUF

[RichatUF]

Rocco-

Organization in Solidarity with the People of Iraq (Dallas)

Interesting...wonder if they were tied to The Holy Land Foundation? What is the name of the document that charities and foundations have to file that is public record-Form 990?

Curiouser and curiouser

RichatUF

[MJW]

Birdseye: Even as a non-lawyer I was surprised about the inaction over Ekenrode's part and each time I raised the question, someone, the same person would counter that no attorney worth his salt will call a witness if the attorney does not know what the answer will be.

I won't speak for others, but I tend to think not calling Ekenrode may well have been a prudent decision given that a) he was clearly pro-prosecution; b) he was an FBI agent, which usually impresses juries; c) his notes of the Russert interview were missing, giving him wide latitude to reconstruct the events in a prosecution-friendly manner; d) he wasn't called by the government, so the defense had no opportunity for discovery.

How, though, does the defense's ability to call Ekenrode moot the issue of the lost notes? Is that the rule, that the government is free to lose crucial contemporaneous evidence as long the person who collected the evidence is available to testify as to its substance? That's a very convenient rule for the government.

[SlimGuy]

Ynet is reporting the Irani general who defected says the Iranians are working on a new method to enrich uranium--Scientists--Is this feasible?
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3422381,00.html

Posted by: clarice | July 08, 2007 at 09:27 PM

Lady if you are talking about the laser enrichment process, yes it does work but you have to know the witches brew of chemical catalysts to cook the reaction.

It's not a simplistic thing like laser pointers turn uranium into kryponite.

[RichatUF]

I thought laser enrichment sounded familiar

Cheney must have planted that information as well

RichatUF

[SlimGuy]

Clarice, SlimGuy might know if it is feasible.

Posted by: Sara | July 08, 2007 at 10:03 PM

Hey you really need to hear my sweet talking the ladies about the spin and parity of neutrinos in a non stable environment....zzzzzzzzzzzzz

[SlimGuy]

That's all blind guess since there are so few details, but it's semi-educated blind guess.

Posted by: kaz | July 08, 2007 at 11:26 PM

It's not about fast or slow since at those speeds it's all just relative.

It's about binding energy v exitation energy with third order and better differential equations only getting you in the door where after that you need a whole lot more.

It is not put laser up add uranium rock stuff and you melt it into bomb material, it is a very complex process that requires a whole bunch of stuff to work exactly in concert to produce the end result.

Even the smallest deviation from ALL the required mix results in not bad, but just plain pitiful results.

This is threading a nuclear needle.

[SlimGuy]

Rich

I believe the Obey video is still on youtube so do a search and you will likely find it.

[SlimGuy]

Rich

About AfterDowningStreet

In the dictionary of acronyms ADS comes just before BDS.

Think about it!

[SlimGuy]

Trust me folks

Laser enrichment is a very complex thing almost like building new dna from scratch.

The concept for years was totally discussed as theoretical without proof.

It took literally millions of hours of super computer simulations to even give a small confidence level that it could be done.

After that there were many steps of logic gains to mold the initial simulations into something that was workable.

This ain't something Karnak the great is going to pull out of an envelope to reveal to the world.

It's not just the fact a laser is involved, but specifically how it is used and the real deal breaker is there are only a few combinations in the whole world of chemistry combined with nuclear physics that will make the magic occur.

So few know the secret sauce that if it ever appears in the wild then I gonna go down and pure sure bets on the next 10 state lotteries in a row as a sure bet.

This is way far from flour and milk make pancakes..if you get it wrong you make biscuits.

[SlimGuy]

From the beginning it was known you had to modulate the laser to make the whole process even workable.

That is outside of the magic sauce chemical catalyst to do the reaction.

So this new thingy was supposed to work but what would you choose to modulate the laser, maybe a tune by the Grateful Dead or perhaps something by Celine Dion or go for broke with Jimmy Hendrix and the Star Spangled Banner.

What I'm trying to get across is this isn't Lego Block simple , it is very high complexity and you don't just stumble upon it.

[SlimGuy]

Just to show you how long this has been around here is a paper from the 60's floating the laser enrichment concept.

Yup and this was where it was being publically discussed, imagine how many years before the very concept was only on a burn before read basis. 

 

[Sara]

Can anybody say A.Q. Khan and his rapid super fast uranium enrichment process?

Wiki:

The laboratories became the focal point for developing a uranium enrichment capability for Pakistan's nuclear weapons development programme. KRL also took on many other weapons development projects, including the development of the nuclear weapons-capable Ghauri ballistic missile. KRL occupied a unique role in Pakistan's Defence Industry, reporting directly to the office of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and having extremely close relations with the Pakistani military. The former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, has said that, during her term of office, even she was not allowed to visit the facility (KRL).

Pakistan's establishment of its own uranium enrichment capability was so rapid that international suspicion was raised as to whether there was outside assistance to this program. It was reported that Chinese technicians had been at the facility in the early 1980s, but suspicions soon fell on Khan's activities at URENCO.

and

The American clampdown may have prompted an increasing reliance on Chinese and North Korean nuclear and missile expertise. In 1995, the U.S. Government learned that KRL had bought 5,000 specialized magnets from a Chinese Government-owned company, for use in the uranium enrichment equipment. More worryingly, it was reported that the Pakistani nuclear weapons technology was being exported to other states aspirant of nuclear weapons, notably, North Korea. In May 1998, Newsweek magazine published an article alleging that Khan had offered to sell nuclear know-how to Iraq, an allegation that he denied. United Nations arms inspectors apparently discovered documents discussing Khan's purported offer in Iraq; Iraqi officials said were authentic but that they had not agreed to work with Khan, fearing it was a sting operation.[citation needed] A few weeks later, both India and Pakistan conducted nuclear tests (Pokhran-II and Chagai-I, respectively) that confirmed both countries' development of nuclear weapons. The tests was greeted with jubilation in both countries; in Pakistan, Khan was feted as a national hero. The President of Pakistan, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, awarded a gold medal to him for his role in masterminding the Pakistani nuclear weapons development programme. The United States immediately imposed sanctions on both India and Pakistan and publicly blamed China for assisting the Pakistanis.

and

In August 2003, reports emerged of dealings with Iran; it was claimed that Khan had offered to sell nuclear weapons technology to that country as early as 1989. The Iranian government came under intense pressure from the United States and the European Union to make a full disclosure of its nuclear programme and, finally, agreed in October 2003 to accept tougher investigations from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA reported that Iran had established a large uranium enrichment facility using gas centrifuges based on the "stolen" URENCO designs, which had been obtained "from a foreign intermediary in 1987." The intermediary was not named but many diplomats and analysts pointed to Pakistan and, specifically, to Khan, who was said to have visited Iran in 1986. The Iranians turned over the names of their suppliers and the international inspectors quickly identified the Iranian gas centrifuges as Pak-1's, the model developed by Khan in the early 1980s. In December 2003, two senior staff members at KRL were arrested on suspicion of having sold nuclear weapons technology to the Iranians.

[Ger Horgan]

It is amazing when Fitzgerald was working in NYC against Bin Laden etc - he was the darling of the Wall Street Journal (defender of Libby) yet when the CIA leak came out they hate him.

You are all hypercrites and you all must love the Neo Cons.

What motive had Libby to lie ?
Jesus that is easy To save Dick Cheney
More important why was Dick Cheney not called to the stand during the trial?

[Ger Horgan]

It is amazing when Fitzgerald was working in NYC against Bin Laden etc - he was the darling of the Wall Street Journal (defender of Libby) yet when the CIA leak came out they hate him.

You are all hypercrites and you all must love the Neo Cons.

What motive had Libby to lie ?
Jesus that is easy To save Dick Cheney
More important why was Dick Cheney not called to the stand during the trial?

[Ger Horgan]

It is amazing when Fitzgerald was working in NYC against Bin Laden etc - he was the darling of the Wall Street Journal (defender of Libby) yet when the CIA leak came out they hate him.

You are all hypercrites and you all must love the Neo Cons.

What motive had Libby to lie ?
Jesus that is easy To save Dick Cheney
More important why was Dick Cheney not called to the stand during the trial?

[kim]

Schumer wants to ask Fitz that. Hide and watch.
==============================

[Sara]

The New York Times and Iran
By Ed Lasky

Lasky pulls no punches, a long article, but worth the read.

[Ger Horgan]

Sara,
If you like that article then the US should go to war with Iran ? Oh yeah then go to war with North Korea. And then go to war with Israel (they have nuclear weapons)and hen what about Russia ?

Deadful dreadful article

Ed Lasky is a rightwing nut case. He even supports the extreme rightwing views of the evangelical movement in America. Amageddon is coming soon etc
Very very scary

[kim]

Ted Barnett's Chicago might as well be Tel Aviv. Perhaps because of a pre-Ayatollah existence, Iran might have more internal sysadmin than did Iraq.
================================

[kim]

Ger, your reading comprehension leaves a little to be desired. Reread that long article, this time to note the context around the word 'Armageddon'.
====================

[Sara]

Plame Game - Fitzgerald has some explaining to do

Mac is quoting from the Novak excerpt that I posted the link to earlier, but I don't understand the timing:

“It is important to note that Armitage reached out to me before Joe Wilson went public on the New York Times op-ed page and on “Meet the Press” with an account of his Niger report that he said contradicted 16 words in Bush’s January 2003 State of the Union address: (”The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium in Africa.”)

I was ushered into Armitage’s big State Department inner office promptly at 3 p.m. Neither of us set ground rules for my visit. I assumed, however, that what Armitage said would not be attributed to him but would not be off the record. That is, I could write about information he gave me but would not identify him by name. During a long career, I had come to appreciate that sort of thing in countless interviews without putting it into so many words. I viewed what Armitage told me to be just as privileged as if he had made me swear a blood oath.

Armitage reached out to Novak before Joe's column? So before July 6th? and Woodward was June 20th. So Armitage was working the story between June 20 - July 5 and Woodward talks to Armitage on the 20th and Libby by phone on the 23rd, the same day Libby talks to Miller and interviews Libby on the 27th. So Armitage was pushing the story for some reason and Armitage also tells Woodward on the tape that Joe Wilson was pushing the story to anyone who would listen.

Now someone tell me again how Libby ends up the bad guy here?

[kim]

Watch him post something stupid.
======================

[kim]

Sir Richard, indeed. A good argument against inherited privilege.
======================================

[Ger Horgan]

Sarah I have read the article. IF it is true then the US has no choice but to go to war with Iran ?

And by the way Bin Laden and his followers do not like Iran

FOXNEWS.COM HOME > WORLD
Al Qaeda Front Group in Iraq Threatens to Go to War With Iran

Nothing is black and white

[Ger Horgan]

Sarah I have read the article. IF it is true then the US has no choice but to go to war with Iran ?

And by the way Bin Laden and his followers do not like Iran

FOXNEWS.COM HOME > WORLD
Al Qaeda Front Group in Iraq Threatens to Go to War With Iran

Nothing is black and white

[kim]

Sara, I can't wait for Novak to unload on Russert. Perhaps, though, wily as he is, he may know Russert has been bullied by Fitzgerald. Also, was Russert's tease of Novak about caving to Fitz before or after he knew that Fitz knew about his interview with Eckenrode. This may be Fitz's hook on Russert, that Russert went into his sub poena resistance without considering that he'd been interviewed already by the FBI. Speculative, here, because I'm highly unsure of the timelines.

There has got to be some compelling reason that NBC is stonewalling this, and worked so hand in glove with Fitz during the trial.

I remember Maid Marion's noting the Blackberry in the Back.

That's it: The NBC Lawyer, in the back of the room, with a Blackberry.
===========================

[Sara]

And with Armitage working the story does it make sense that he would not have also reached out to Andrea Mitchell? When did Mitchell call for the CIA confirmation that *I think* Harlow? told about?

I would suggest that everyone look at Polly's date book link with a new eye to what we know now. When you see it all day by day, it is hard to see how the info wouldn't be common knowledge.

[kim]

Ger, chiaroscuro is black and white. What about Armageddon you poor sap?
==================================

[Sara]

I did not editorialize about the Laskey article, all I did was post the link, note that it was long, but still a good read, perhaps I should have said interesting. I do not recall that I voiced my opinion of the validity of the content one way or the other and I certainly did not say anything that would indicate I'm all for going to war with Iran. And bin Laden may not like Iran, but last I heard bin Laden's son and other family were in Iran.

[kim]

Mac, at a recent press conference I saw President Bush tell a reporter that if there had been wrongdoing at the Department of Justice that it would be taken care of "like you would like". And then he smirked at him.

I think Schumer is getting scared. The Twelve Amigos rule beyond the Southern District of New York.
=====================

[kim]

Bush may end up pardonning everyone Fitz has blackmailed.
==================================

[kim]

Listen up, Fred.
========

[kim]

er, F, not T. Well, you too.
===============

[Sara]

Let's see, Novak writes for the Chicago Sun Times syndicate, Woodward for the Washington Post and so was it Joe's assignment to be the voice for the New York Times or did Armitage also "reach out" to someone there?

Mitchell/Russert would be network, Time and Newsweek were covering the story, was Armitage talking to someone there also?

I mean if you want to cover all bases, you would be "reaching out" to the TV networks, the newspapers, the magazines, right?

Don't I remember, vaguely, that Fitz and friends were working extra hard to try to limit the timeframe of the case to a very narror window?

“Well,” Armitage replied, “you know his wife works at CIA, and she suggested that he be sent to Niger.” “His wife works at CIA?” I asked. “Yeah, in counterproliferation.”

He mentioned her first name, Valerie. Armitage smiled and said: “That’s real Evans and Novak, isn’t it?” I believe he meant that was the kind of inside information that my late partner, Rowland Evans, and I had featured in our column for so long. I interpreted that as meaning Armitage expected to see the item published in my column.

Inadvertent leak, my a$$!!!

[Sara]

From the WaPo:

Who Runs the CIA?  Outsiders for Hire.  — 

Red alert: Our national security is being outsourced.  —  The most intriguing secrets of the "war on terror" have nothing to do with al-Qaeda and its fellow travelers.  They're about the mammoth private spying industry that all but runs U.S. intelligence operations today.

[Rocco]

Thanks Rich

I'm wondering if these conferences were the genesis of the forged documents. If Hersh's disgruntled CIA veterans had something to do with forging those documents, this is where the idea might have been hatched.

American Friends Service Committee and VIPS
Italian reporters from Il Manifesto and
Many screaming for years to link uranium to Iraq.

[tinafromtampa]

Is today the day that Walton will make a decision regarding Libby and his probation, or supervised release? Will there be briefs filed? Will there be a hearing?

[PeterUK]

"And by the way Bin Laden and his followers do not like Iran"

Geopolitical imperatives have nothing to do with like or dislike,al Qaeda and Iran share a common enemy,America.

[Ger Horgan]

"Geopolitical imperatives have nothing to do with like or dislike,al Qaeda and Iran share a common enemy,America."

Lets see who likes America The North Koreans? Pakistan? The Europeans?

Simple question: Do you advocate an invasion of Iran

[Pofarmer]

It is amazing when Fitzgerald was working in NYC against Bin Laden etc - he was the darling of the Wall Street Journal (defender of Libby) yet when the CIA leak came out they hate him.

You might make note of the fact that Fitzgerald didn't hinder Bin Laden much. But man, if he came to the U.S., without diplomatic immunity I mean, I bet Fitz would of nailed his sorry hide. Fitzgerald may have "got his man" in the WTC 93 bombing, but there were too many threads left unexplored. Just another reason why treating terrorrism as a law enforcement matter won't work.

[Pofarmer]

Simple question: Do you advocate an invasion of Iran

Got a better idea, that's proven effective?

[PeterUK]

You're using the juvenile "like" word again Germ.

[boris]

Make war? Yes. Invade ? Depends.

[glasater]

There was an Italian reporter on C-span's Book Notes some months ago who I believe had written a book on the forgeries but I can't remember his name. He was in front of a liberal audience so didn't pay that much attention and did come in late to the show.

[clarice]

Sara, it is true that many who left the CIA are doing the same kind of intel work for the govt and private industry as contractors--but to my knowledge the most successful of these operations do not hire the fercocked analysts of whom the Dems are so fond--In other words, not Plame.

[cathyf]

Armitage reached out to Novak before Joe's column? So before July 6th? and Woodward was June 20th. So Armitage was working the story between June 20 - July 5 and Woodward talks to Armitage on the 20th and Libby by phone on the 23rd, the same day Libby talks to Miller and interviews Libby on the 27th. So Armitage was pushing the story for some reason and Armitage also tells Woodward on the tape that Joe Wilson was pushing the story to anyone who would listen.

Armitage-Woodward was June 13th. It's not at all obvious what in the timeline is parallel and independent threads of WH, OVP and DoS pushing back against Wilson, and what is those three interacting with each other.

[bio mom]

The end the war and impeach Bush crowd stated a few months ago that they were going to organize a summer jihad to convince the country that he should be impeached. All of this is just part of that plan and, of course, the MSM plays right along. The truly depressing thing about this is that these guys would rather weaken the entire country just to get back at Bush. And this includes a considerable number of congressional types as well. They act like this is some sort of football contest with opposing sides instead of a country under threat from outside.

[lurker9876]

A recent WSJ article said that the Democrats have already held 600 oversight hearings since they took over the house.

It's not going to get any better even with the next US President unless the Democrats win all three houses.

[anduril]

Sara, thanks for the Mac link and comments re Novak's book. I sure hope there's more to come.

MJW, incisive observations. That's why I've been maintaining that, rationally, the Government should have been sanctioned by either 1) denying their ability to have R testify or 2) giving the defense extra latitude in impeaching R--rather than outrageous limitations on impeachment. Certainly there should be mandatory jury instructions about possible misconduct by the Government.

[Other Tom]

Ah yes--I've been waiting for this one:

"Live Earth has been branded a foul-mouthed flop.

"Organisers of the global music concert - punctuated by swearing from presenters and performers - had predicted massive viewing figures.

"But BBC's live afternoon television coverage attracted an average British audience of just 900,000."

From the Daily Mail...

[clarice]

Rove and Powell on Plame (in Aspen):
"ROVE ON PLAME
Rove was also asked about his role in the CIA leak case involving Valerie Plame Wilson.

He replied, "My contribution to this was to say to a reporter, which is a lesson about talking to reporters, the words 'I heard that, too.'"

Rove said he was responding to a statement from columnist Bob Novak about the status of Valerie Wilson. Wilson worked at the CIA and was married to former ambassador Joe Wilson, who was publicly critical of the Bush administration's rationale for the war in Iraq.

Rove also said that all he told Matt Cooper of Time magazine, in an off-the-record conversation, was to be careful about reporting the Wilson story.

Rove said he was not part of the strategy discussions at the White House that led to last week's commutation of Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence by President Bush, but that the President's statement "hit the right tone" as it was "respectful of the decision" that Libby "was guilty of misleading the grand jury."

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell stood up in the audience during the question-and-answer period to say that it was his deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, who sparked the CIA leak case. Powell said that Armitage responded to a question by Novak about Wilson, saying "I think she works for the CIA..."

Powell said that Armitage later called him and told him he had been the one who had talked to Novak about Wilson. Powell and Armitage then met with the FBI on the matter.

"The FBI knew on day one of Mr. Armitage's involvement," Powell said.

And so did Patrick Fitzgerald, Powell said. Fitzgerald was the special counsel brought in to find out if someone had maliciously exposed Ms. Wilson's undercover identity with the CIA, where she was known as Valerie Plame.

"If everybody who had any contact with a reporter during that period, had done what Armitage had done, I think this would have ended early on and not dragged out the way it has dragged out," Powell said, adding that he knew early on that no crime had been committed in the incident. "Mr. Libby got in trouble for an entirely different set of reasons and circumstances."

http://www.aspendailynews.com/article_20591

What B.S. As I recall Libby told Fitz he'd told some reporters who said he hadn't. He simply mixed up who he was talking to..
And Powell conveniently fudges over that neither he nor Armitage told Bush as they had been ordered to.Indict him.

[Pofarmer]

Well somebody else is trying link up Joe Wilson, and France, and the Forgeries.

http://rednecktexan.blogspot.com/2007/07/sacre-bleu.html

[anduril]

"If everybody who had any contact with a reporter during that period, had done what Armitage had done, I think this would have ended early on and not dragged out the way it has dragged out," Powell said, adding that he knew early on that no crime had been committed in the incident. "Mr. Libby got in trouble for an entirely different set of reasons and circumstances."

Beautiful. Why didn't that knucklehead Bush follow Powell's sage advice? 'Cuz he didn't give any sage advice. What a snake!

[Sue]

If everybody who had any contact with a reporter during that period, had done what Armitage had done

Is he referring to withholding evidence about talking to Woodward? You know, the first unknown to have discussed Plame with a reporter? Might that have shut Fitzgerald down a little? Who knows.

[Other Tom]

Anduril took the word out of my mouth. Colin Powell has been a genuine reptile since his days as National Security Advisor. His entire career has been marked by currying favor with the Washington press corps, almost always on deep background, and forging an exit strategy for himself in case things go badly.

[Sue]

Do you advocate an invasion of Iran

It it becomes necessary.

[boris]

Rove also said that all he told Matt Cooper of Time magazine, in an off-the-record conversation, was to be careful about reporting the Wilson story.

So then Cooper would need another source for the Wilson wife detail. One of Cooper's notes in evidence does mention Harlow.

[windansea]

Novak version:

“Well,” Armitage replied, “you know his wife works at CIA, and she suggested that he be sent to Niger.” “His wife works at CIA?” I asked. “Yeah, in counterproliferation.”

Powell version:

"I think she works for the CIA..."

what a weasel

[Semanticleo]

Live Earth---New record.....10 million viewers.

http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story.html?id=16f59d5d-60fc-43b9-acbc-43000b959745

[lurker9876]

Not much of a record.

[anduril]

OT, but...you always have to rejoice to see lawbreakers get their comeuppance, right?

BBC NEWS
US woman arrested over dry lawn
A 70-year-old US woman has been left bruised and bloody after an unexpected clash with police who came to caution her for not watering her lawn.

Trouble flared when Utah pensioner Betty Perry, 70, refused to give her name after being upbraided because her garden breached local regulations.

She says the officer hit her with handcuffs, cutting her nose, although police insist she slipped and fell.

Ms Perry said she was "distraught" after the incident.

He's just trying to cover his tracks, as far as I'm concerned
Betty Perry

She denied accusations she was resisting arrest, maintaining that she only turned to go inside to call her son to fix the confusing dispute.

"I tried to sit down and get away from him [the police officer]," she told Utah newspaper the Daily Herald.

"I don't know what he's doing. I said: 'What are you doing?' And he hit me with those handcuffs in my face," she said.

"He's just trying to cover his tracks, as far as I'm concerned."

Set free

The officer had judged that Ms Perry's "sadly neglected and dying landscape" breached an Orem city guideline and was attempting to issue a formal caution when the 70-year-old was injured.

She was treated in a local hospital for the cut to her nose and for other bruises before being taken to jail.

But she was let go when police realised there were "other ways" of finding out her identity without jailing her, a police spokesman said

The arresting officer has not been named but has been placed on administrative leave, he added.

Ms Perry, who says she has never had a run-in with police in the past, has been offered help by local church leaders to clean up her garden.

"I'm very distraught over all this," she said.

"I can't believe this happened. Do you ever just wish you could start your day over and it would all be different?"
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6282348.stm

[narciso]

It's not surprising considering an earlier KGB disinformation center project, regarding
the Kennedy assasination; floated by Russian New Times, which made it into Italian & French publications like Corriera de Sera and Le Humanite; which in turn made into James Garrison's ramblings
as well as the Buchanan, & other conspiracy tomes and was re-introduced with JFK's Oliver Stone; which leads to the 40% and higher of American people believing in a
CIA/Mob/ FBI conspiracy.Now Max Holland; of the NAtion; has done yeoman work in uncovering this poisoning of the well And that took a quarter century. Trutherism seems to have flown from Thierry Meysan's pen to Loose Change, Rosie O'Donnell and the Ron Paul campaign in a much more narrow stretch of time. So qucikly, that 35 to 45
% of Democrats seem to believe the President
either caused (MIHOP) or let it happen (LIHOP) 9/11 occur on purpose. In South Florida where 12 of the 19 hijackers lived; the prospective jury pool of the Padilla trial is almost as misinformed. The 'crime of Iraq' meme seems to have manifested almost as fast.

[RichatUF]

cathyf-

all obvious what in the timeline is parallel and independent threads of WH, OVP and DoS pushing back against Wilson

The Armitage-Woodward talk was concurrent with the first round of Kristof and Pincus articles. Armitage got on the phone to pencil in Novak around the time the Guardian and Independent started publishing their articles, which was also concurrent with the Miller-Libby interview (late June 03)...

RichatUF

[clarice]

BUT, it was also concurrent with Wilson contacting people on the Hill and in the DoS. The notion that one could track the leak without ever questioning the Wilson-Plames is a joke.

[royf]

Well semileo that only leaves 1,990,000,000 to reach level which has been hyped.

When you run something for over 24 hours a couple million people flipping through channels will give you 10 million viewers.

[maryerose]

cleo:
anyone with an ounce of common sense realizes this is an over-hyped issue just like the so-called "population explosion"of the 80's. You are on a losing bandwagon. The real concern of Americans is affordable health and securing the future of Social security. We are the ones who have been working for the past 35 years so you Cleo can have the kind of lifestyle you've grown accustomed to all these years. We are the baby-boomers and we aren't going to work forever to carry any slackers from your generation.

[cathyf]

Rich, my point was more trivial... The state dept, white house (Rice at NSC) and vice president's office were all carrying on independent push-backs against Wilson's accusations, but they were also interacting with each other. We can speculate, and we can rule out lots of stuff (like what Powell said about the Armitage-Novak conversation) as being impossible, but really untangling all of that to form an accurate comprehensive narrative is not possible. Without conducting, ya know, like a leak investigation. (Imagine that.) It may even be impossible to figure out the whole story with a proper investigation -- people were busy with important things and it is unreasonable to expect them to remember more than the occasional piece of trivia.

But anyway, it's way too late to conduct a useful investigation now, and since it wasn't a leak of classified information it's not even proper to conduct one.

[Other Tom]

The global-warming zealots, principally including Al Gore, are increasingly becoming objects of ridicule, which is pretty much a death knell for that wacky "movement." People catch on pretty fast when they're being exhorted to lower their "carbon footprints" by people whose footprints are ten, twenty times those of normal people. Nothing is more toxic than very evident hypocrisy.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

'Armitage reached out to Novak before Joe's column?'

Well, the appointment was made in June, iirc. So, when Novak shows up on July 8th(?) at Armitage's office the controversy has just been renewed by Wilson's Op-Ed and MTP appearance.

Similarly with the leak to Woodward on June 13th; Pincus and Kristoff were dueling over the VP's role in the 'unnamed ambassador' trip on June 12th and 13th. It was the news of the day.

[Lesley]

RE: Colin Powell

Odd little anecdote:

In the spring of 2006, I was at a Republican fundraiser for a potential candidate to run against Ben Nelson (D, Nebraska). This fundraiser was peopled with the party hardcore - ie, the time and money crowd.

By 2006, there were deep rumblings amongst the Nebraska Republican Party faithful with regard to Chuck Hagel. I was expressing my displeasure with Hagel to a strong Hagel supporter who had ties to Hagel's local Nebraska office.

This fellow was defending Hagel to me. One of his points was to tell me how close Chuck Hagel and Colin Powell are, as if this would impress me as deeply as it, apparently, deeply impressed Mr. Hagel's defender.

It gave me an interesting insight into Hagel's opposition to Bush on the war, as well as his differences with Bush in general.

Our current State Attorney General, Jon Bruning, is gathering steam in his campaign to run against Hagel in the next primary. He just might win.